Excellent work!!!! I highly appreciate your dedication and am on a constant lookout for these wonderful videos of yours!!!!! If you could possibly tell us where to find full performances (preferably with English explanations 😅) it would be even more wonderful!!!!
Thank your for the kind words! The full performance (with remarkable english explanations by Paul M. Griffith) can be found in a boxset DVD known as Kabukiza sayonara kōen, although I'm afraid it is terribly expensive. Hopefully in the near future kabuki can be easily streamed worldwide through Netflix or some other platform!
Oh my, thank you for this video! I had so so so hoped they’d stream a paid version but I suppose the cancellations sort of disrupted any extra plans they had. (Or… is there a streamable version?!) Your explanations are wonderful. I didn’t know there were so many kata for this play. I guess Ebizo-san’s one here was learned from Kanzaburosan in Arizona!
Excellent video as always. I've seen several actors play Danshichi Kurobe (Kataoka Ainosuke VI, Matsumoto Koshiro X, Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII and his son Nakamura Kankuro VI), but this is the first time I've seen Ichikawa Ebizo XI play this role. Now I have some doubts here: 1-I saw somewhere that this Kabuki play is associated with the Matsushimaya acting house (in particular Kataoka Ainosuke and his uncle Kataoka Nizaemon XV). That's true? If so, why is this play considered a signature Kabuki play for the Matsushimaya guild? 2-The version of this play made by the Nakamuraya guild appears to be quite different from the normal play (more experimental). Could you make a video showing the difference between the normal version of this play and the version made by Nakamuraya? 3-And speaking of Nakamuraya, I have perhaps the most important doubt of the three: in your opinion which of the two sons of Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII will take their father's name in the future (Nakamura Kankuro VI or Nakamura Shichinosuke II)?
1. Very true! In fact, the first actor to hold the Kataoka Nizaemon name, was the first actor ever to play the role of Danshichi, in 1698, just 1 year after the real crime happened. After that, Nizaemon XIII created a new style for the role in the 60s, and revived several scenes that had long forgotten. But surprisingly, Nizaemon XV never attempted the role. It was performed once by his brother, Kataoka Gatō V, who though the role to Kataoka Ainosuke VI when he wanted to play it.
2. If I remember correctly, I briefly cover some of the differences on this old video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-26jjjwtyxaU.html), but to get in more depth, I would need decent quality footage of the Nakamuraya version. Hopefully they release it on DVD at some point and I can do a detailed comparison!
3. From what I've heard, Kankurō is the one expected to receive the Kanzaburō name. He is the older brother and, artistically, him and Shichinosuke are essentially on the same level, so tradition suggest that the older one should take the name. I have also heard that Shichinosuke might me allowed to revive the prestigious Nakamura Shichisaburō name, last held in the 1940s.
Can someone please translate what spectators are showting during the mie poses? I ques it's "Bravo!", or something else? I'm absolutely in awe, I want to see kabuki plays in real life so bad
The answer is a bit complicated but extremely interesting, so some time ago I made a video explaining the tradition of shouting during kabuki performance. I hope that you enjoy it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-plGfpYinnUg.html
